On a Nerdist list of top Superman runs, the Triangle era was in first place.

This was a bit of a surprise to me because I was under the impression this wasn't considered a great period of Superman comics. The whole Death of Superman story was controversial (I know it has some fans) but I thought it was seen as a desperate move after the Superman comics got stale.

1. Mike Carlin’s “Triangle Era”
with Dan Jurgens, Jerry Ordway, Louise Simonson, Roger Stern, Jon Bogdanove, Tom Grummett, Karl Kesel



Our number one slot of Superman eras is a weird one, because it doesn’t belong to one creative team. It belongs to several, all working in concert over several years under one editorial voice. That of Mike Carlin. After John Byrne left the Superman books in 1988, sales dipped, and Clark Kent was back to where he was in terms of fan apathy. With three Superman titles still being published a month, group editor Mike Carlin suggested a format that would tie all these separate titles into one grand narrative. Carlin instituted a small triangle on the cover of each issue, saying where each issue of Superman, Adventures of Superman, and Action Comics fell in each respective year’s timeline. And it worked.

Writer/artist Dan Jurgens, industry vets Roger Stern, Louise Simonson, Jerry Ordway, Jon Bogdanove, Tom Grummett, Karl Kesel, and a few more largely forged this “triangle era” in its early days. With the addition of Superman: Man of Steel, the saga was now a weekly soap opera, something even X-Men and Spider-Man at Marvel weren’t at the time. And it flourished because each title’s individual teams talked to each other and truly coordinated under Carlin’s direction. This was something unprecedented in mainstream superhero comics.

The first year of the “triangle era,” 1991, didn’t see a big bump sales-wise. Despite the huge change to the mythos of having Lois Lane finally learn Superman’s true identity, as she and Clark become a true power couple at last. At a frustrated editorial meeting early in 1992, Mike Carlin jokingly said “What if we just kill him?” And then, they did. “The Death and Return of Superman” created a massive event in comics, rarely seen before or since. Sales soared, and the Superman titles became an addictive weekly fix and top DC seller for years following. The “triangle era” technically lasted until 2002, but really ran out of steam around 1997. This was when Superman got electric powers, a gimmick story best forgotten. But for those first five years, it was as good as the Last Son of Krypton’s stories ever were. Or may ever be again.

Issues in the Superman “Triangle Era”
Superman Vol. 2 #51-176, Action Comics #661-785, Adventures of Superman #474-598, Superman: The Man of Steel #1-119 (1991-2002)
I've read some of the stories, especially around the time of the Death & Return of Superman, and the '99 jump-on point when Jeph Loeb and Joe Kelly took over as writers.

There was an earlier thread but it was closed (possibly because it was an Appreciation thread and those are reset every year.) Otherwise, I'd bump that.

What did you think of the triangle era? Are there any stories you would recommend?

And how do we split the triangle era to make it manageable for readers interested in the era?

Nerdist seems to say the peak was the first five years up until Electric Superman. That kicked off in 1997 around Superman #122, Action Comics #732, Adventures of Superman #545 and Man of Steel #67, so that's an east cut-off.

There was another reset after the Strange Visitor crossover, with Action Comics #760, Adventures of Superman #573, Superman #151 and Man of Steel #95 using four connected covers to indicate new readers are welcome. The Nerdist cutoff seems a bit off since Mike Carlin is still the executive editor the next month, and the creative teams stick around.